Missing Pieces
by EldritchSandwich
Summary: Change of Heart Series 19. In the aftermath of his break from Yumi, William teams up with Brandy to find out what the Gang is up to, leading the two of them to discover something they weren't expecting...


Jeremie rubbed his neck and leaned back in the computer chair. He was sure that translating Franz Hopper's diaries would help him find Aelita's cure, but so far he hadn't made any headway. He sighed and switched off the monitor, then pushed the chair out from his cluttered desk. The others were still down in the cafeteria for lunch; a bite to eat might do him some good.

As Jeremie passed through the wide doors that led into the dining hall, his eyes immediately fell on their habitual table, and he smiled. He still hadn't found out exactly what had happened with Yumi and Ulrich, but things seemed to be back to normal. Better, even—if anything, it seemed that William had only made them realize how much they meant to each other, and thus brought them closer together. Sissi and Odd sat across the table, joking. Aelita was next to them, and when she looked up from her meal, she waved. Jeremie grinned as he stepped forward and took the seat across from her.

"Hey."

"Hey. How goes the translating?"

Jeremie groaned. "Between that and the anti-virus, I haven't had a moment's peace in almost a week."

Sissi smiled. "Isn't that the way you like it?"

"Yeah, our lives are interesting," Odd cut in, "That's what makes them so…interesting."

Ulrich chuckled. "You do have a way with words, man."

Jeremie squeezed Aelita's hand and stood up. "I think I'm going to get a banana or something."

She nodded. As Jeremie stood, his eyes naturally turned toward the tables at the back of the room. And there they were. William and Brandy. He shook his head. It was entirely possible they were both just on the rebound, but Jeremie still had a bad feeling about it.

William stared back at the blond boy as he moved toward the line, then turned to his companion. Since Monday, Brandy had abandoned her patsies at the "cool" table to sit with him in a dark corner, clandestinely trading information, snippets of what they'd overheard or seen that they thought was suspicious. So far, it wasn't much.

There were a few words that stuck out—'xana,' 'lyoko,' 'factory'—but they'd had trouble putting them in context. Whoever these six _really_ were, they were certainly good at keeping their secret. He'd also learned over the past week that that fact was what made Brandy so curious about it. It wasn't paranoia, exactly; she just didn't like people (well, other people) keeping secrets. William knew the feeling.

"I still think Stones and Delmas are the key. Those other four losers have been hanging out and doing weird stuff for as long as I can remember. Sissi was always curious about them, and then all of a sudden she's one of them, like overnight. And Aelita just sort of showed up out of nowhere."

William nodded. "I wish we could get our hands on some hard evidence. Like…I don't know, a diary or something."

Brandy raised her eyebrows. "A diary? You really think any of them would be stupid enough to keep a diary about their secret society?"

He shrugged. "Well, do you have any ideas?"

Brandy looked over at their table as Jeremie retook his seat, then smiled. "I think we should bring in some help."

"Oh, not Herb and Nicolas. Those guys are just braindead puppies that follow you around. I've got houseplants who'd be more help."

Brandy's smile widened. It felt good to hear someone else say what she was thinking. "Actually, I was thinking of someone in a more official capacity…"

William's eyebrows arched. "Please tell me we're going to call the cops on them."

"I think they'd refer the case to Animal Control." William chuckled and Brandy grinned wickedly. "But no, right now I have someone very specific in mind." She looked back at the table and her smile deepened. This was going to be fun.

…

Aelita watched as Jeremie took his place at the back of the line, then she leaned back toward the table. "All right, where were we?"

Odd looked up at the ceiling as if trying to call up the memory. "You…were worried that Jeremie's been working so hard since we found Hopper's diaries that a vein's going to pop in his head and he's going to turn into a horrifying monster caught between life and death whose only purpose is to hunt down and exterminate the rest of us?"

Siss squinted and turned toward the blond. "You know, I don't think those were her _exact_ words…"

"Well, of course not, it was kind of boring the way she said it."

Yumi rolled her eyes. "Regardless, I think you're right, Aelita. He's been pushing himself pretty hard lately. I think he needs a break."

Ulrich nodded. "Yeah, we've all been pretty busy. I guess we sort of forgot about him."

"So, are we thinking surprise submarine sandwich party?"

Ulrich scoffed. "Odd, that's your solution for everything."

"It couldn't hurt to let him know we appreciate him, though."

Aelita coughed as Jeremie came back toward the table. The blond's eyes flitted around the table as the others fell silent. "Am I interrupting something?"

Odd shrugged. "We were just talking about how to embarrass you on the next pool trip. I wanted to go with the fake shark fin, but the girls were really lobbying for the old sun tan lotion-mayonnaise switcheroo."

Jeremie nodded and forced a smile. "Forget I asked." He retook his seat just as William and Brandy left theirs and started to head for the doors. Their eyes met with everyone at the table, William's staying on Yumi's and Brandy's on Sissi's a little longer, before they walked out of the cafeteria. Odd let out a mock shiver.

"Is it just me, or does it really give anyone else the creeps, those two palling around?"

Aelita shrugged. "Maybe they just like each other." She looked up from her food as everyone's eyes turned to hers. "Well, pardon me for seeing the glass half-full."

Ulrich squeezed Yumi closer—she was still staring at the door out to the courtyard. "Hey. You okay?"

Yumi drew her gaze back to the table. "Yeah, fine. I just…I still get a weird feeling from him."

Odd looked askance at Ulrich. Before what had happened over the last week, Ulrich might have made a mock-jealous comment like "As long as that's 'weird' bad, and not 'weird' good." Not now, though. He and Yumi didn't seem to joke about their relationship any more. They seemed more serious…more dedicated. In reality, he envied them a little. He and Sissi were mostly still just friends. They'd gone on dates, they held hands, they laughed together, but…it didn't feel like a relationship. Odd looked at Sissi and blinked. He hadn't really thought that was what he wanted until now. Sissi's eyes turned to meet Odd's and she smiled nervously.

"What?"

Odd shook his head. "Nothing."

William watched the other students go by as he and Brandy walked down the covered passage that eventually headed to the administration office. Almost all of them looked at him or Brandy at least once. He'd been popular at his old school, but he'd obviously underestimated the degree of power Brandy had here. And from what he'd heard, that power was less than Sissi's had been. He thought maybe he understood her now. No matter what she did, she couldn't live up to Sissi's image. He smiled at the thought, the great Brandy being perpetually jealous of the principal's skinny, prissy daughter, until an idea hit him. That had been his problem too, in a way; he couldn't live up to Ulrich's image.

William clenched his fist as they continued to walk, and he glanced at Brandy out of the corner of his eye, strutting along beside him. He did understand her—they were exactly the same.

…

"We know there's something weird going on with those six."

"Yeah, but can you prove it?"

William frowned. "Well…not yet."

"That's why we want your help, really," Brandy interjected.

"Why me?"

"Well, even if we found out something, no one would believe just two students."

"Especially two students with chips on their shoulders." They both looked up at him, and he smiled. "I hear you kids talking."

William shook his head. "Look, if what I've heard about you is true, then you're just as anxious to find out their dirty little secret as we are. You've known there was something going on longer than anyone here. That's why we chose you."

"You make it sound like some kind of big conspiracy." Jim cracked a grin. "I'm in." The students sitting at the front of his tiny "office" let out a palpable sigh of relief. "Now, what do we have to do?"

"Just leave everything to me." Aelita slid into her seat as the warning bell rang. "I always have plenty of extra time after I finish my homework anyway."

Sissi smiled flatly as she pulled out the chair next to Odd's. "Showoff."

"You guys just keep him away from the factory at all costs. I'll have it all set up by tonight."

Ulrich nodded. "What time?"

Aelita smiled to herself in a way that made the others a bit uneasy. "You'll know."

The slide of metal on tile pulled Ulrich's gaze to the back of the room, where Brandy sat with an empty table separating her from Herb and Nicolas. "Yumi was right…those two are giving me a creepy feeling."

Odd nodded. "Yeah, and they've been acting pretty weird. I swear it's like they're watching us all the time."

Ulrich smiled mischievously in Odd's direction and lowered his voice so that even his friends could barely hear it. "Maybe some of us should work on them, not just Jeremie."

Aelita nodded as Mrs. Hertz callled for quiet. "All right, Ulrich, you and Sissi."

They all nodded and slid back into their seats as Mrs. Hertz began her lecture.

As the other students (or a few of them, at any rate) began to take notes, Brandy unfolded a piece of paper from her lap and smoothed it out on top of her science notebook. Most of the handwriting was William's; this was the most recent list he'd slipped to her. She'd written a few notes of her own at the bottom, to which she now added

**FACTORY tonite, setting smthg up. Follow w/Jim?**

and refolded the paper. As she stuffed the note back between the pages of her biology book, another piece of paper landed on the far side of her table. She leaned over, unfolded it, scanned the brief message, and crumpled the note with disdain. Then, on second thought, she padded the paper back out and scribbled a short response. She tossed the note back in Herb's general direction.

The boy opened it, frowned, glanced up at Brandy, then showed the note to Nicolas. To Herb's "What's wrong?" she'd written a hasty "Tell u later". Herb sighed. At least she'd finally bothered to answer. Herb leaned over to his best friend conspiratorially. "All right, this is getting ridiculous. She doesn't even notice us any more." Nicolas looked up at him skeptically. "Okay, fine, she never really _noticed_ us, but you know what I mean. She's been hanging around William an awful lot."

Nicolas squinted at the black-haired boy. "You're jealous, huh?" Herb bristled. "I thought you liked Sissi."

Herb let out a snort. "I like the drama queen thing. Sissi wasn't any fun once she stopped being mean."

Nicolas shook his head. "You've got problems."

"I'm just getting a little worried. If she goes and changes the cool crowd on us, we're stuck." He cast one more glance at Brandy, who was staring at the backs of Sissi's new crowd. He followed her gaze. "Anyway, it happened before."

Nicolas shrugged. "So, what are we supposed to do about it?"

"I don't know…I think we should at least follow the two of them. See what they're up to." He pulled his eyes off Brandy and her targets, shaking his head. "Something weird is definitely going on."

…

"Remember, everyone, I want your succession questions on my desk at the beginning of class Thursday."

As the students filtered out of the classroom, Ulrich shook his head. "Man, was it just me, or did that seem even more complicated than usual?"

Odd craned his neck and groaned. "It wasn't just you."

They turned the corner toward the stairs, and Sissi took the opportunity to steal a glance behind them. Brandy was trying to get lost in the crowd, but she was obviously within earshot. "Hey, Ulrich we have…that thing…to take care of."

The brunette looked up. "Hm?" Sissi jerked her eyes back. "Oh, yeah. Odd, mind if I steal your girlfriend for a minute?"

"No, for something this important, you need all the help you can get." He was trying to keep his voice audible without being obvious.

Ulrich nodded to Aelita as he and Sissi broke off toward the other stairs. "See you tonight."

"Good luck."

The two kept up small talk as they circled around and went past Brandy. Trying just hard enough to blend into the crowd that Brandy would think they were trying to hide, but not hard enough that she'd lose them. Ulrich shook his head. Subterfuge was hard work.

Once they had passed by, Brandy casually reversed direction, letting the flow of students carry her after them, and slipped the cell phone from her handbag. "Will? Where are you? Good. I'm tailing Stern and Delmas, it looks like something big. Why don't you cover the others, just to be safe?" Brandy nodded and snapped the phone shut. Jim would vouch for them, but they still had to do all the leg work. She sighed as the crowd jostled her about, straining to keep her targets in sight. Subterfuge was hard work.

Herb motioned for Nicolas to follow him, and the two began to weave through the hallway, keeping a good distance from Brandy. "So, we're following her."

"Yeah."

"And she's following them."

Herb grimaced at his friend. "Yeah…"

"So…who's following us?"

Herb shook his head. "Do you really want me to dignify that with a response?"

Nicolas sighed—from now on it might just be better to shut up. Boy, he thought, subterfuge sure was hard work.

Yumi joined the group as they made their way down the second flight of stairs. "Hey." Aelita smiled. Odd tipped a pantomime hat. "Where's Jeremie?"

"He got a sick pass for all afternoon. He seems really determined to crack those journals."

Odd shrugged. "Still, that makes it easier to plot against him."

Yumi flipped her backpack over her shoulder, just in time to catch a glimpse of William round the corner behind them. "Speaking of which…"

Odd cast a glance back and sighed. "Great. Just what we needed, another shadow."

"Where're Ulrich and Sissi?"

Aelita leaned in. If she judged the distance right, her voice was low enough that William couldn't quite make it out. "They're riding interference for Brandy."

Odd rolled his eyes and grinned. "It's _running_ interference, Aelita. And just when I was starting to think you had the Earthling thing down." Yumi raised her eyebrows. "Which…probably isn't what we were talking about."

"So, who's going to keep William occupied?" Aelita and Odd were both looking at her. "What, me?"

Odd smiled slyly. "Well, you've spent more time keeping him occupied than any of us."

"Odd, do you really want me to punch you that badly?"

His grin dropped off. "You wouldn't." Yumi smiled. Odd gulped. "Right. Well, uh…someone has to keep Jeremie away from the factory, and Kiwi and I can handle that. I know just what buttons to push." Some of his smile began to creep back. "Besides, he's more likely to follow you anyway."

Yumi cast a furtive glance back at the tall, dark standout trying to make himself look inconspicuous. This was exactly what she didn't need. "Fine." She sighed. "Subterfuge is hard work."

Odd shook his head as he and Aelita broke off. "Yeah, yeah, we know."

…

William caught a glimpse of them through the crowd—he was tall, but not tall enough that navigating the hallway wasn't still a nuisance. Still, he managed to see Yumi sidle up alongside the others, then the hushed conversation, then her retreat down toward the stairs.

When she broke off, William frowned, eyes darting between her and the other two. It looked more than a little suspicious, but he was supposed to watch Aelita—Brandy would have wanted him to stay on mission. When Yumi was almost around the corner and into the stairwell, he shook his head in frustration and sprinted down the hall to keep her in sight.

Forget what Brandy wanted.

As soon as Yumi cleared the glass double doors that led out onto the courtyard, she headed toward the water fountain. When she lowered her head, it gave her a chance to turn in his direction. William had managed to duck into a gaggle of younger kids with admirable grace, but the extra six inches of height were still a dead giveaway. As she continued out into the sun, confident that he wouldn't be bothering Odd and Aelita, Yumi couldn't help but smile to herself. If she'd been the one tracking him, he wouldn't even have been able to see her, much less tell that she was following him. Then again, she thought, chagrined, if he had noticed he probably wouldn't have minded. Yumi shook her head. She hoped Ulrich and Sissi were doing as well.

Sissi slid closer to Ulrich—it would have seemed rather forward if he hadn't known that she was trying to keep her voice low enough that Brandy couldn't hear. "Where are you thinking?"

Ulrich's face didn't move. Anything could have given them away. "Opposite direction as everyone else. Hermitage, maybe?"

A tiny smile cracked the corner of Sissi's mouth. "Good. Let her feel like she's accomplished something." She increased her speed slightly, hoping it would lend their stalker some encouragement. "You're pretty bright when you need to be."

Ulrich nodded matter-of-factly. "Yes. Yes I am."

Yumi wasn't quite sure where she was headed, yet—she could always just go home now that classes were over, but then he might lose interest. Then she smiled to herself. She knew just the place. She made a sharp turn toward the woods.

Brandy had just slipped between the trees when Herb ran, panting, from the main doors. They'd bowled over Milly and Tamiya coming around the bend, and it had cost them a lot of time. Nicolas trotted up behind him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I can't breathe…no, I'm fine." He wiped the sweat from his forehead and began a fast walk toward the treeline. "How can Brandy move that fast?"

Nicolas shrugged. "I think she power walks."

"We've got to get in shape if we're going to keep sticking our noses into other peoples' business." Nicolas almost laughed. It was always nice to see his friend be himself. Even if he did have to be away from his current drama queen for a while before it happened.

Nicolas smiled wryly. "You want me to carry you?"

Ulrich and Sissi were almost to the gates of the Hermitage. From all the noise behind them, Brandy was still keeping up, if not being too subtle about it. "All right, once we're inside, we'll split up and get her to—"

"Yumi."

Ulrich's eyes shot across the clearing to Yumi, staring wide-eyed back at him. He gestured for Sissi to stay at the fence, and wandered as nonchalantly as possible over to the tall girl. Ulrich glanced around the yard, adjusting his collar. "What, uh…what are you doing here?"

"I'm distracting William. What are you doing here?"

"We're distracting Brandy!"

Yumi opened her mouth to speak, then closed it. She sighed. "Well, so far I think it's going pretty well, don't you?"

"Odd, get out of my way, I need to get the rest of the disks from the lab…"

Odd filled the door as completely as he could, Kiwi hopping around his ankles and doing relatively little to help his master keep Jeremie away from the factory. "You know, Jeremie, it occurs to me that we never really get a chance to talk, you and I. About ourselves." Jeremie tried to squeeze Odd's arm, but he moved closer to the edge of the door to block him. "Tell me about your parents."

Jeremie sighed. "Odd, this isn't funny. Will you please just move?"

Odd gripped the door frame tighter. "You know I think popular music has greatly improved in quality over the last ten years. What's your take?"

Jeremie's gaze narrowed and his mouth gaped open—Odd was seriously considering whether his friend might be about to take a swing at him.

Instead, Jeremie's eyes widened. Odd let go of the door and followed him to the computer, the tinny alarm ringing through the speakers. Jeremie clicked his fingers against a few keys, and Odd threw his head back as the red exclamation point filled the screen. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me!"

…

"Aelita, thank…no, as a matter of fact, we've kind of run into a snag on that front. The worst kind of snag. Jeremie's trying to figure it out before we call Ulrich. Look, whatever you're doing over there, just make sure it's put away before we get there. Right. Ciao." Odd slipped the phone back into his pocket and glanced behind him at Jeremie—luckily his friend was so busy tapping frantically at the keyboard to have paid any attention to what he said. "So, what's the invasion du jour, Einstein?"

Jeremie shook his head in frustration. "My news filters aren't picking up anything out of the ordinary. I'll figure it out once we get to the factory."

"Won't it be kind of dangerous, not knowing what we're getting into?"

The shorter boy shrugged. "The way I see it, it would be more dangerous for us to just wait around until something happens."

"Touché. Let's go. Kiwi, stay." The dog settled to the floor with a dissatisfied whine as the door slammed shut, then promptly began rooting around under Jeremie's bed for the dust-covered hard candy he'd found the previous week.

"All right, we can still salvage this. Maybe this is a good thing, maybe they think they've stumbled onto some big conspiratorial meeting."

Sissi frowned. "That's because they have."

Ulrich ignored her. "Think. They know we're in the same place."

Yumi bit her lip, then smiled. "But neither of them knows the other one's here."

Ulrich grinned. "Right, we head off the way the other group came from, which will get them to bump into each other, maybe buy us some time. Then we can—" He almost jumped as his cell phone vibrated halfway out of his pocket. He glanced at the number. "Odd, how's your end going? What? WHAT? Oh, great. No, I'm with Sissi and Yumi right now. Long story, look, we'll be right there." The girls glanced at him curiously as pocketed the phone. "Alarm went up. We need to get to the factory. Now."

"How?"

"Same plan, we just run instead of walk then double back toward the Hermitage basement access when we get around the other side of the house. They won't find the secret entrance if we have enough of a head start."

The girls nodded and, on Ulrich's mark, broke into a run.

Brandy squinted as they all edged closer together. She didn't like it. She was, of course, proud of herself for having tracked them to this secret meeting in the middle of nowhere, but a part of her thought it was all just a little too convenient. She was about to creep closer to try listening in on the conversation when they started running. She groaned silently to herself and ran along the edge of the clearing, already winded from tracking them through the forest, but determined to keep up. After all, if William was still shadowing Stones, the least she could do was keep following Delmas.

Only William wasn't shadowing Aelita Stones. He was trying to pick himself up off the ground where Brandy had run into him because she had been too intent on not losing track of Sissi and Ulrich to notice how intent he was on not losing Yumi.

"What are you doing here? I thought I told you to keep track of Stones!"

"I was when…" William narrowed his eyes. "Hey, I don't have to explain myself to you! You're not in charge here!"

"Oh, please, that's a joke. You think you're big man on campus even when it comes to spying, don't you? You can't even follow one person without getting sidetracked…"

"Hey, at least I don't run into people when they're trying to track someone!"

"What? That was totally your fault! Not only can you not watch your assignment, you can't even watch where you're going!"

"Hey, if I want this kind of treatment, I'll get back together with Yumi!"

"Good! My blessings on you both! At least then I won't have to carry you anymore."

"Carry me? That's it, I'm out of here!"

"Good!"

"Fine!"

As if they had never seen this sort of scene in the movies, Brandy and William butchered a proud tradition and didn't even spend the required second glaring at each other before they kissed.

…

Ulrich dove through the basement door, Yumi following close behind. "See anything?"

The tall girl shook her head. "I think we're clear."

A few seconds later, Sissi cleared the door and Ulrich slammed it shut behind you. He turned to her as they began to run again. "What took you so long?"

"Don't worry, I don't think they're going to be following us any time soon."

"Why, what did you see?"

Sissi grinned in spite of herself as she turned down the tunnel that led to the sewers. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you…"

Odd hit the ground first, but Jeremie was close behind. Aelita was waiting at the lift. "Everything…safe?" She nodded. "Sorry about your party."

She smiled. "If you get me through this mission fast enough, it doesn't have to go to waste."

They both fell silent as Jeremie followed them into the elevator. "The others are on their way. I'm going to send you two in now and hope Xana hasn't had time to come out in force yet."

Jeremie stepped out at the control room, and the lift continued down. Odd glanced sidelong at Aelita. "So what was it?"

Aelita smiled. "You'll just have to wait and see."

Jeremie's voice buzzed over the intercom. "The activated Tower's in the Desert. It doesn't look like Xana's had the chance to bring in many monsters yet."

Odd closed his eyes as the scanner doors slid shut. He felt the familiar tingling sensation of the transfer, then opened his eyes to Lyoko's orange desert. "Which way, Einstein?"

"East, ten degrees. Take the big semicircle path to your left."

Aelita fell into step behind Odd. "Do you see any monsters?"

"Nothing yet, I'll keep you posted."

When Brandy and William broke, they were both breathing heavily and looking more than a little awkward. "Um, we really should…"

Brandy nodded. "Yeah. Did you see which way they…"

"Uh, I think they went back toward the house."

"Right." Each one took about six steps before running back into the other's arms.

Odd shrieked as he catapulted backward, finally managing to sink a desperate claw into the side of the floating pathway. "Jeremie, vehicles would be helpful!"

"Working on it! Aelita, stay behind cover."

The crabs had appeared out of nowhere, and Odd's backflips had done nothing more than get him precariously close to the edge. Aelita cast a frantic glance at Odd's paw, just barely visible at the top of the bridge. She could help him, but it would put her in the monsters' line of fire.

"I'm kind of losing my grip, here, Einstein."

"I'm having trouble clearing the memory!"

Aelita shook her head. "I'm coming, Odd!" Jeremie's objection was cut out by Aelita's low moan. She began to run even as the stone barrier was still forming, lasers whizzing past her legs for the first half of the run. By the time she reached Odd's position, the new wall was solid. She grabbed the boy's paw with both hands and pulled.

"Aelita? Aelita!"

Odd chuckled. "Don't sweat it, Einstein. We're both fine. You know, you've got to learn to—"

The word 'relax' was swallowed up in the sound of laser fire as the first crab vaulted the low wall. It seemed to watch almost smugly as Odd's pixels flitted upward. Then it turned to Aelita—still kneeling, defenseless, on the ground—and began to charge its weapon.

…

"Aelita, run!"

She turned to break for the final leg of the bridge, then recoiled with a shriek as a rain of lasers pierced the ground in front of her. Aelita spun on her heel, wincing in anticipation of the monster's next attack. Instead, the crab leaned down over the edge of wall, content merely to watch her, and to wait. And Aelita knew why. "Jeremie…hurry."

Ulrich was the last one to hit the ground, and practically had to roll into the lift as Yumi punched the button to descend. Jeremie must have heard the motors—his voice filtered through the tiny speakers on the ceiling. "Go right down to the scanners, Aelita's in trouble!"

The three cleared the door and branched off to the scanners, sharing a quick nod before the doors whipped shut and the machinery began to hum.

"You're not far from Aelita's position, but I'm reading a lot of monster activity in the area. I guess Xana finally called in the cavalry.

Ulrich drew his saber and started forward. "It's not cavalry I'm worried about. What's there?"

"Looks like…three blocks, and at least half a dozen crabs."

"You've got to be kidding!"

"And they're probably going to converge on your position as soon as you run into the first one."

"How about vehicles?"

"Any second now."

Yumi gritted her teeth. "All right, Sissi, if you can lay down some cover fire, I think Ulrich and I can take out the blocks pretty quick."

"Right. I can even probably get some of the crabs to kill each other in the crossfire, too."

"Hey now, don't try anything too risky."

Sissi smiled at the new voice over the comm. "You're one to talk, Della Robia."

Jeremie frowned and wrenched the microphone back from Odd's hand. "Head's up, guys. You're coming up on the first pair of crabs. Looks like the others are already moving in." Jeremie moved his eyes to the edge of the screen and the blinking symbol that had just materialized. "Oh, no. Guys…I'm getting a new signal."

Aelita tried to strafe nonchalantly along the width of the path, but the crab never took its eyes off her. More than anything, she wanted to run. She still carried more than enough scars from the previous times the Scipizoa had gotten its tentacles on her. "Jeremie…"

"Hang on, Aelita! Guys, new plan. I'm bringing in the Overwing—someone has to go ahead and stop the Scipizoa!"

Yumi nodded. "I'm on it!" The vehicle materialized above the crab Ulrich had just skewered.

"Oh sure, leave us here to have all the fun!"

Yumi spared him a wink as the vehicle sped off toward the east. As the sound of battle fell away behind her, Yumi was fairly certain she could see the ridge where Aelita was trapped. Then she saw the white silhouette cresting the horizon. "Hold on, Aelita, I'm on my way!"

Sissi ducked under the last block's laser just in time, and Ulrich took the opportunity to strike, vaulting over the ninja's back and diving straight into the monster's target eye. Sissi shot him a peevish glare as the robot melted away. "Glad to be of help."

"You guys still have three crabs to take care of!"

"Thanks, Einstein, for a second there I thought we were on a pleasure cruise."

Sissi flipped a shuriken into an approaching crab, and spun her arm around to the one on her other side. Nothing happened. "Jeremie, I'm out…" Sissi's outstretched hand blinked and faded as the other crab's laser caught her in the back.

Ulrich's sword sliced across its surface and spun around just in time to deflect the last monster's barrage of lasers. "Yumi, how are you doing?"

"Almost there…" The geisha dared a glance out of the corner of her eye. The Scipizoa was almost there as well.

Aelita's eyes darted between the crab and the approaching horror. The other monsters were mindless. This one moved like Xana. It reached a tendril out to wrap around her arm. Aelita closed her eyes.

The pain was unbearable—the thing didn't want to let go. Finally, though, the momentum of the Overwing won out, and Aelita was vaulted into place behind Yumi, the Scipizoa's inhuman shrieks of rage fading behind them.

Yumi grinned back at her passenger, the pink-haired girl's eyes just starting to open. "Where to, princess?"

As the outline of the Tower approached, Aelita finally let out her breath.

Brandy pulled back from William for a moment. "I don't…I mean, it's not usually—"

He nodded. "I know. I mean, it's not that I don't—"

"I know."

Neither one noticed as, somewhere in the distance, Kadic's dinner bell rang.

Odd ran alongside Jeremie, shaking his head. "I don't get it. Since when does Xana attack twice in one day?"

Ulrich, on the blond's other side, shrugged. "At least he had the courtesy to wait until after dinner."

Jeremie's view lurched as he came to rest on the factory floor, then settled back into focus. Then he blinked.

**"Surprise!"**

As much as it killed him to admit it, Jim was having trouble keeping up. Brandy and William weren't moving ahead of him as they jogged on through the evening half-light, but he had a feeling they were just humoring him.

"We knew they were going to meet here tonight. I'm sure this is going to blow the lid off this whole thing!"

Jim was too out of breath to argue, so he merely nodded as Brandy piped up. "We were tracking them through the woods earlier today, until we…" There was a moment of awkward silence that the gym teacher didn't quite understand. "…they got away."

Jim slowed as they came to the bridge, padding across the surface and closer to the sounds that came form within the abandoned factory. He cleared the edge and, when his eyes adjusted to the light coming from inside, let out a deep sigh. He should have known.

All the traditional accouterments were there—cake, streamers, noisemakers. Jeremie shook his head. "You guys went to a lot of trouble."

Ulrich shrugged. "Actually, it was all Aelita's idea. We didn't really care either way." He grinned as Sissi playfully slapped him upside the head.

Odd threw his arm around his shorter friend's shoulder. "Of course, Xana almost blew the whole 'surprise' part of the surprise party."

Ulrich smiled. "Yeah, then your bad acting on the way here almost blew it again!"

"Hey, I'm a phenomenal actor!"

"Yeah, for a scrawny kid…"

**"Hey! I'm svelte!"**

Jim glared at the two nervously grinning students crouching beside him as the laughter wafted up from the factory floor. Brandy shrugged.

"They're out past curfew?"

"So are you." Jim stood up. "See you back at school."

As the gym teacher marched off, Brandy slapped William's shoulder. "What were you thinking?"

"Me? It was your idea to follow them here! And it was your idea to get Jim involved…"

"I swear, I am about an inch away from knocking you off this bridge, pretty boy…"

"Pretty boy? Prima donna!"

"Stalker!"

"Ice queen!"

Brandy glared at William, seething, hair flying about her face. This time, long enough to fulfill the requisite dramatic second before they were, once again, locked in each other's arms.


End file.
